Success Biographies

Ready or Not was written by J. Francis Angier and is a memoir of his life and flying career — highlighted by his shoot-down and imprisonment in Nazi Germany. His narrative encompasses his early interest in aviation, (he soloed at age 15) and his upbringing on a Vermont farm during the Depression which prepared him for the rigors of flying in combat and the hardship of his captivity.

Ian Purkayastha is New York City's leading truffle importer and boasts a devoted clientele of top chefs nationwide, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Chang, Sean Brock, and David Bouley. But before he was purveying the world's most expensive fungus to the country's most esteemed chefs, Ian was just a food-obsessed teenager in rural Arkansas - a misfit with a peculiar fascination for rare and exotic ingredients. The son of an Indian immigrant father and a Texan mother, Ian learned to forage for wild mushrooms from an uncle in the Ozark hills.

This book will offer you the most extensive introduction to Elon Musk. You are going to learn what made Elon Musk such a successful figure. Feeling unmotivated? Feeling uninspired? Needing a role model? If that is the case, this book is definitely for you! Musk is a symbol of the American dream, despite not being American. He is truly self-made, working his way through college and starting his first business in time to take advantage of the burgeoning Internet scene to become a millionaire before the age of 30.

Be Elite NOW ! In today's competitive business world, it's more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. Whether you're a business owner, manager, or entrepreneur, you need to find ways to distinguish yourself from your competitors and make a lasting impression on your customers and clients. Being elite in business is not just about having a prestigious title or a high net worth. It's about having a mindset that sets you apart from your competition and propels you towards success.

Wearing Expectations Like Designer is part memoir, part guide, and all truth. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt the pressure to show up perfect, polished, and pristine—but deep down knew the “fit” didn’t feel right. In this book, I unpack the weight of societal and self-imposed expectations, likening them to rocking designer clothes that look good on the outside but never truly reflect who we are on the inside. Spoiler alert: true authenticity doesn’t come from what you do—it comes from aligning with your purpose and learning how to wear your life authentically.

Broken Child Mended Man is a remarkably compelling memoir touching on childhood neglect, years in foster care, and overcoming the odds to graduate college. Highlighting the emotional and psychological ups and downs during his formative years, Adam Starks manages to reveal human resilience in its most authentic form. Through a life of trial and error, the author displays bountiful courage by achieving life's milestones without a role model.

Terry Wogan is one of Britain's most popular and successful broadcasters. Witty, charming, and relaxed, he has undoubtedly captured the nation's heart. Here, for the first time, he tells his story, from his beginnings in Limerick to incredible success as a national celebrity, in his own delightfully laconic fashion.

Remembering the truth of what it's like to be a kid is vital because most of us are stuck in some phase of arrested development, thanks to something traumatic that happened to us during our youth. Do you know what that trauma was and how it has affected who you are today? Understanding where you got stuck can free you to be the parent and adult you were meant to be.

Permission to Fly tells the true story of boy born into a kind and happy family who grows to realize the executive world his father inhabits may not be his destiny. Thanks to his remarkable mother, Layng is given "permission to fly" early on. Armed with optimism, curiosity, creativity, determination and a wry sense of humor, he begins his amazing journey of many painful-but-educational steps and missteps.

Unorthodox success principles from a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Eli Broad's embrace of "unreasonable thinking" has helped him build two Fortune 500 companies, amass personal billions, and use his wealth to create a new approach to philanthropy. He has helped to fund scientific research institutes, K-12 education reform, and some of the world's greatest contemporary art museums. By contrast, "reasonable" people come up with all the reasons something new and different can't be done, because, after all, no one else has done it that way.

Life can be tough—but it helps to know other people have come through hard times with a smile on their face. In Make Your Own Sunshine, Janice Dean shares inspiring stories that will lift your spirit and touch your heart. Good people are all around us doing selfless deeds, from a firefighter who bravely battled for his colleague’s health after 9/11 to a good Samaritan who secretly pays for the coffees of everyone in line behind him. You can’t help but smile hearing about the teacher who cut her hair to make her student feel better.

Agatha Christie’s ‘most absorbing mystery’ – her own autobiography. Over the three decades since her death on 12 January 1976, many of Agatha Christie’s readers and reviewers have maintained that her most compelling book is probably still her least well-known. Her candid Autobiography, written mainly in the 1960s, modestly ignores the fact that Agatha had become the best-selling novelist in history and concentrates on her fascinating private life.

Organized by theme-joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity, and power-these essays offer a rare and powerful glimpse into the mind of one of the world's most extraordinary women. Candid, moving, exhilarating, uplifting, and dynamic, the words Oprah shares in What I Know For Sure shimmer with the sort of wisdom and truth that listeners will turn to again and again.

7 Checklist Items for Success was made to challenge the conventional status quo of today’s self-help titles. It encourages listeners to alter their perspective to reflect a thankfulness about being alive and a willingness to become a beacon of hope to themselves and others around them.

In Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success, Deborah James shares her personal and professional challenges, outcomes, strategies for success, and the problem-solving principles she used to overcome the daunting pressures, threats, and challenges that come with rising to the top of the US Armed Forces. As a supplement to her storytelling, Bain and Company, a top-tier management consulting firm, offers research and statistics that prove James's insights have widespread impact.

You have potential, even if it’s hidden. You have talent, even if you’re afraid to use it. Your dreams just might change the world if you only believe the truth: I’m possible. Internationally known celebrity photographer and philanthropist Jeremy Cowart shares his powerful story of transcending the traditional, following his ideas into a life lived in the fullness of possibility.

Anne Neilson believes that each of us begins our life as a blank canvas: clean and fresh and ready to find texture in our experiences. Each trial, each joy, each heartache, and each hope leaves an explosion of color and sweeping brushstrokes that shape us. When we allow God to take over as the Master artist, we will find that He carefully adds dimension and highlights to create a beautiful masterpiece in us. Often, though, it's hard to find the beauty when we are wading through mess. Anne shares personal stories about why her faith is so important to her and resonates in all her work.

In 1962, Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley created a software company when the concept of software barely existed. Freelance Programmers employed women to work on complex projects such as Concorde's black box recorder from the comfort of their own homes. Shirley empowered a generation of women in technology, giving them unheard of freedom to choose their own hours and manage their own workloads. The business thrived, and Shirley gradually transferred ownership to her staff, creating 70 millionaires in the process.

Success is a Special Need is the powerful memoir of Jeffrey L. McCain, who shares his life story of overcoming dyslexia to build a successful business. With personal anecdotes and reflections, McCain recounts how he navigated his educational struggles, developed survival skills, and eventually achieved extraordinary success in the traffic signal industry. This inspiring tale is one of resilience, innovation, and determination in the face of adversity.

Supermaker is a guide to business and career development by Jaime Schmidt: acclaimed entrepreneur, founder of Schmidt's Naturals, and icon of the Maker Movement. In Supermaker, she shares how you too can start or grow your own business with advice on branding, product development, social media marketing, scaling, PR, and customer engagement, all based on her own hard-won mastery.